Christmas Present
by amessoffand0ms
Summary: River's excited because it's Christmas, and she's got a surprise in store for her husband.


Christmas Present

The Doctor was waiting not so patiently for his wife to finish getting ready to go out. "River, it's a garden centre, not a state dinner!" He whined.

"Patience is a virtue, seldom found in a timelord. You cannot rush beauty." River called back. "I'll be a few minutes."

It was November time on Earth, after Manhattan. The Doctor and his wife had spent some time travelling with Clara, and some time travelling alone.

It had taken a while for them both to heal, and Clara had helped massively. She was cheeky, bossy, and was eager for adventure-a breath of fresh air for the Doctor and River.

The Impossible Girl was meeting up with them at a garden centre. Te Doctor had laughed at his wife when she suggested it, and had gotten a slap. It turned out that River loved Christmas, and garden centres were a perfect place to shop for decorations.

River made her way into the central console room, wearing a red turtleneck jumper, black boots, and blue jeans. "Happy now?"

"Mm hm." He replied, kissing her. "I love you."

"I love you too, Sweetie."

Hand in hand, the couple made their way out of the Tardis. It was parked just across the road from the garden centre that they were visiting, situated in the countryside not too far from Clara on modern day earth.

River was delighted to find that it was snowing. "My favourite type of weather."

Her husband smiled at this. River had been through so much, they both had-he was determined to make Christmas perfect.

Clara was waiting for them at the entrance. "Finally!"

"Impatience seems to be a running theme today." Said the Doctor as River gave Clara a hug.

"I'm not impatient." Clara replied, giving him a hug. "Where to first?"

"The cafe. I fancy a hot chocolate." Replied River.

The two women went off, leaving the Doctor trailing behind. River and Clara had become the best of friends, and often played pranks on him. He pretended to get annoyed with them, but in truth he was happy that River had someone else to confide in, that she had a friend.

"How have you been?" River asked Clara when they were waiting in the queue for their drinks. The Doctor had declined anything from the cafe, so his wife had sent him in search of tinsel.

"I've been okay thank you, I'm still teaching. How about you and the Doctor?"

"We're fine, good actually. It was the anniversary of what happened to my parents the other day... We put flowers on the grave. After that though, we went to a pet festival. I wanted to take a kitten home but he said no." River responded.

Clara chuckled at this, and realised that they were next in line to get their drinks. "I'll buy these, and brownies for us both."

"Okay, thank you." The other woman replied.

The two got their drinks and snacks, after that they looked for the Doctor, eventually finding him in a greenhouse outside.

"Look at these, River!" He said excitedly, poking a stick into a venus fly trap and grinned as the plant closed around it.

"Fabulous honey, I'm sure. Now come on, I told you to search for tinsel!"

A while later...

River was deliberating over what to put on top of the Christmas tree- a fairy, or the traditional star.

"Just pick one! If you change your mind the Tardis could give you the other one." The Doctor suggested.

"Hmm." She eventually decided on a star, and put it in her basket.

Suddenly, something caught River's eye. "Sweetie, Clara bought me a drink earlier, could you go and see if they do savoury souffles here? If so, we'll order one for her lunch as a thank you."

The Doctor nodded, and hurried off.

Clara, who had been silent throughout the whole exchange, spoke up. "What is it, River?"

River picked up a pink bauble with 'Baby Girl' on it, tears in her eyes.

Clara's own widened. "You're pregnant?"

"Yes, six weeks. I don't know how to tell him, I'm getting older now and I'm so afraid, I'm not going to be around forever." The other woman said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey, I'm sure that you'll work something out." Clara put her arm around River and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." River gave her friend a proper hug.

"Erm, there's some baby things in the clothes shop, would you like to..?"

"Yeah, why not?" River said.

A while later...

The three made their way back to the Tardis, having just eaten a filling and delicious lunch. The Doctor's favourite thing had been a Jammie Dodger cake- River and Clara had banned him from eating the whole thing.

River hadn't told the Doctor her news at the café in case he got too excited and broke something, and was currently thinking of ways to tell him.

As they entered the Tardis, Clara caught on to what the other woman was thinking. "Bauble, River. Right, I'm going to watch Home Alone. Doctor, River has something for you." With that, she made her way out of the room.

The Doctor turned to his wife. "Are you alright, my love?"

"Yeah, um..." River put her shopping bags down, retrieved the pink bauble. "Close your eyes and put your hands out, Sweetie."

He did as she asked, and she placed the bauble in his hands. "Okay, you can open them now."

He did so, and smiled as he realised what the bauble meant. He beamed at her.

"Yes, I'm pregnant. I scanned myself a couple of weeks ago. We're going to be parents." She smiled.

The Doctor didn't know what to do, so he kissed her then pressed a kiss to her tummy. "That's our baby girl in there."

River tan her fingers through his hair. "Mm hm."

"I love you. Both of you." Replied her husband, straightening up.

"We love you too. Now, let's go to Clara."

When she heard the Doctor and River Song enter the room, Clara looked round at them. "Congratulations, Doctor. Don't get mad, but River told me first because she didn't know how you'd react. I calmed her fears."

"Thank you." The Doctor gave her a hug. "Mind if we sit down?"

"Not at all." Clara budged up the sofa.

River sat down next to her husband and snuggled into him, focusing on the TV.

He kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her abdomen.

She smiled and did the same, and they settled down to watch the film.


End file.
